EUIPO, Member States IPOs Clarify Representation of New Types of Trademarks

On December 4, 2017, the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), in cooperation with national intellectual property offices (IPOs) of European Union member states, published a Common Communication on the representation of new types of trademarks introduced by the EU trademark reform.

One of the key changes brought about by the reform is the elimination of the graphical representation requirement from the definition of both the EU and national trademark, facilitating the registration of non-traditional marks. While member states are required to transpose the new provisions into their national legislations by January 15, 2019, the trademark Directive (EU) 2015/2436 to approximate member states’ trademark laws does not provide detailed definitions of trademark types or representation requirements to be used by each national IPO.

The EUIPO and member states IPOs therefore issued the Common Communication which clearly states:

• Which types of trademarks will be recognized by each national IPO, as well as their accepted definitions and means of representation; and

• The electronic file formats for sound, motion, multimedia and hologram marks that will be accepted by each national IPO.

The Communication will be updated every six months to reflect each member state’s progress with the transposition process.

By: Roxana Sârghi

For more information, please contact Roxana Sârghi at our Romania office.